Grappling device



Dec. 9, 1952 P. DE ANGUERA 2,621,069

GRAPPLING DEVICE Filed Aug. 25, 1949 I/I/A IN VEN TOR.

' (7% d6 flnyaera. 4 BY ATTYs Patented Dec. 9, 1952 'UITED .S TAT ESEPATJEN T OFFICE GRAPPLING DEV-ICE Rhilipdfi Anguera, Cincinnati, OhioApplication August 23, 1949.; Serial'No. -1113144) reciprocat ng,overhead conveyor for 'rnoving heavy articles, such as railroad ties,timbers, .or

the like.

The principal object of this invention .is to provide a grappler whichhas a pair of self-releasing jaw members thatoperate at right angles to,and below, the draft line for the article being moved thereby; theclamping action for the grappler being supplied by a contraction springsecu-red to and extending between :said members.

Another object of the'invention is to provide a grappler of thecharacter described that has a jaw member formed to provide anarticle-tomember fulcrum point around which the :jaw members maybepivoted to release them from it e object, when a pull is exerted on thedraft line in a direction opposed to the draft movement. A furtherobject of the invention is to provide a grappler which may be quicklyapplied to an object to be lifted and which is simple in constructionand is strong and durable in use.

With these and other objects in view the intventicn consists in thenovel combination of parts specifically set forth in the followingspecification and in the appended claims, reference being had to theaccompanying drawings, wherein:

"Fig; 1 is a top plan view of the grappling device. Fig. 2 is a sideelevationof' the device illustrated inFig. 1.

Fig. 3 is an enlarged section taken on line 3-4 of 1.

Fig. 4 is a diagrammatic view of a railroad tie conveying mechanism withmy grappling device associated therewith.

With reference to the drawings my grappling device 5 comprises a pair ofjaw members i and 8 constructed from long, stout meta-1 plates whichhave diagonal bends 9 and B16 respectively formed intermediate theirends that provide fiat ar. 1 portions H and i2 and substantiallyparallel side portions [3 and :14 res, actively for the jaws. The flatarms are pivotally connected at 15 in face to-face relationship at theirforwardly disposed common ends, and, as most clearly illustrated in Fig.3, a relatively long shaft (3 is fixed at its lower end to the arm I lof jaw member I! by welding, or the like, and extends at right anglestherefrom to pass through an aligned opening i? formed through the flatarm !2 of the jaw member 8. A sleeve i3 is fixed to the arm 52 for thereception of the shaft Hi, the upper end of the "shaft being threaded ati9 for cooperation with .5 Claims. (Cl..,2;94-106) a nut 2c, the latterof bears against "the upper end of the sleeve 1-8. The purpo'scofthelong shaft #6 and the cooperating sleeve is to provide good bearingsurfaces between the pivoted arms H -l2 of the grapple. The long shaftalso serves as a convenient handle when applying the grapple to anobject to be moved there-by.

The rear portion of an eyelink 2 1 encircles the sleeve [8 andpreferably forms a part ofthe welded connection between the sleeve andthe arm 42 in that one end of the'l-ink 'bears against and is welded tothe arm and is also welded :to the base of the sleeve. The end of adraft line 2%! is threaded through and secured to-the fiorwa-rd end ofthe eye-link by a suitable draft line connection.

A spring 23 extends betWee-nand is connected at its-ends to the arms Hand 12 of the jaw mambers and to this-end bolts "2 and 25 are threadedthe upper races of the arms and are each en'- circled by a ring or eye2-6 and 2 formed'nn the ends of the spring '23. As illustrated in Fig.l, the coils of this spring are normally in surface :con'taclt maintainthe jaw members at predetermined, spaced apart minimum distances. Whenthe jaws are rotated away from each other around their commonv pivot,the spring placed in tension which tends to urge the jaw memberstogether toward clamping condition with ann hjectpositioned betweentherside portions 13 and N thereof.

The diagonal bends iland IJG in the jaw members. J and '8 respectively:are opposite eachnther :andlare substantially parallel :so that thedown tu-rned :sides i3 and 123 01 the jaw members are in laterallyspaced parallelism and at rightxanglee .to their respective arms .15 and12. The lower :ends cf the sides t3 and 14 for the. jaw members 31 and.28 are cash provided with a spur or pointed prong 28-423 respectivelywhich extends inwardly from the adjacent :faces of said sides, and, asmost clearly illustratedin Fig. '3, have their pointed ends 68 and 3d:aimed in the general direction of the common pivotmeans for the ,1 awmembers.

The -operation of my grappling .device'will be described in connectionwith a railroad tie conveying'mechanism and it will be noted, withreference to Fig 4., that the grapple '6 is secured to the end of thedraft line 22 which in turn is secured to a carriage 32 mounted forreciproeating movement on an overhead track 33. The track "terminatesabove the receiving end 340i an end-lessbelt conveyor 3-5 which' has asuitable,

inclined guide plate 36 positioned in front of the receiving end and inthe path of a railroad tie 31 carried by the conveyor. It will be notedthat my grappling device maintains the railroad tie in a predeterminedposition with the grappler straddling the uppermost portion of theforward end of the tie. This position is maintained because the draftline connection is located above and forwardly of the clamping devicewhilst the tie engaging spurs on the clamp jaw members have their tieentering points directed toward the clamp line connection and are spacedbelow and rearwardly of said draft line connection; said spurs beingspring urged into the tie at right angles to the line of draft. Thegrappling device therefore deposits the tie upon the conveyor belt 35 ina position with its axis extending in the direction of travel of saidbelt, the device upon the uppermost surface of the tie, and the spurcarrying side members I3 and 14 of the device straddling the sides ofthe tie. The forward speed of the belt 35 is preferably somewhat greaterthan the speed of the overhead carriage 32 whereby the speeddifferential in effect reverses the draft direction of the line 22relative to the tie. As the carriage reaches a stop 38 on the track itsmovement and the actual movement of the draft line are fully reversedwhilst the tie moves forwardly on the conveyor 35.

With reference to Fig. 4 it will be noted that when the draft line 22becomes taut in the reverse direction, it will initially cause pivotalmovement of the grapple around the spurs 28 and 29 whereby the forwardportions of the arms H-I2 of the grapple move upwardly away from the tieat a greater rate than their rear trailing portions. This initialmovement causes the trailing, inner edge portions 3939 of the arms IIand I 2 to come in contact with the subjacent, marginal portions of thetie so that transversely aligned fulcrums are established between thegrapple and tie around which the grapple rotates during its finalreleasing movement. Generally the initial pivotal movement of thegrapple relative to the tie carries through approximately 15 beforecontact is made between the tie and the grapple arms at fulcrum points39-39. Upon contact and further movement of the arms by the line towardthe trailing end of the tie the sides l3-l4 of the grapple are rotatedcounterclockwise (Figs. 2 and 4) around the points 39-39 thereby slidinthe spurs upwardly in an arcuate path along the respective sides of thetie until they move beyond the upper edge of said sides and aredisengaged therefrom whereupon the tie is released from the jaws of thegrapple and is free to move upon the endless conveyor to its destinationwhilst the draft carriage returns in an opposite direction to pick upthe next tie. The final rotational movement of the grapple around thepoints 39-39 is generally accomplished within a 70 arc whereby theentire release action of the grapple requires an upset movement of thearms H-|2 through approximately 85.

It will be particularly noted with respect to the gripping and releasefunctions of the grapple that the spurs 28 and 29 are directed inwardlyfrom the respective sides of the grapple jaws l3 and I4 and that thespur points are aimed in the direction of the jaw pivot to which is alsosecured the grapple draft line connection. Also the spring 23 serves toinitially position the grapple on the object to be lifted thereby and tosome extent urges the points of the spurs into the body of the object.The pull exerted on the draft line accounts for the positive grippingaction of the jaws in that the forward pull on the grapple causes thespurs to be forced into the body of the tie to a depth directlyproportional to the pulling force exerted on the draft line. Upon finalrelease movement of the grapple its rotation on the tie around thepoints 39-39 causes the spurs to move in an arcuate, transverse pathwith respect to the gripping direction of the spurred jaws whereby thespurs are readily disengaged from the tie body and move upwardly alongthe sides of the tie to disengaged positions beyond the upper surface ofthe tie.

What is claimed is:

1. A grappling device comprising a pair of jaw members, pivot means forconnecting common ends of the jaw members, a draft line connection atthe pivot means, each of said jaw members being in the form of a longplate having the outer portion turned downwardly on a diagonal bend lineto a position substantially normal to its inner pivoted portion, spursmounted on the ends of the downturned portions and extending inwardlyfrom the adjacent faces thereof and having their pointed ends aimed inthe general direction of the pivot means, and a spring extending betweenand having its ends fastened to the pivoted jaw portions.

2. A grappling device comprising a pair of jaw members, pivot means forconnecting common ends of the jaw members, a draft line connection atthe pivot means, each of said jaw members being in the form of a lonplate having the outer portion bent on a diagonal line to a positionsubstantially normal to the inner pivoted portion, spurs mounted on theends of the downturned portions and extending inwardly from the adjacentfaces thereof and having their pointed ends aimed in the generaldirection of the pivot means, a spring extending between, and having itsends fastened to each of the inner pivoted jaw portions, and said pivotmeans comprising a relatively long shaft fixed at its end to one jawmember and extending at right angles therefrom and passing through ahole formed in the other jaw member, a sleeve fixed at its end to thesaid jaw member for the reception of the shaft, and a nut threaded uponthe shaft, and bearing against the sleeve.

3. A grappling device comprising a pair of jaw members pivotallyconnected at common ends and each in the form of a long plate having adiagonal, intermediate bend therein to provide a pair of spaced sidemembers for the device, a prong extending inwardly from the adjacentface of each of the side members, and directed toward the locus of thepivotal connection for the jaw members, a draft line connection adjacentthe pivotal connection of the jaw members, and resilient means operableat right angles to the line of draft for urging the jaw memberstogether.

4. A grappling device comprising a pair of jaw members, pivot meansconnecting the members at their forward ends, said jaw members havingarms diverging rearwardly from the pivot means and each having adownturned side member formed at the free end thereof, a prong extendinginwardly from the adjacent face of each side member, and directed towardthe locus of the pivot means for the jaw members, a draft connection forthe jaw members connected to the device adjacent the pivot means, and aresilient l minal having a spur thereon that points in the generaldirection of the pivot and also toward the spur on the other memberwhereby the spurs have a ratchet-like engagement with the object so thatthe spurs will grip the object when the grapple is pulled forwardly andbe released from 6 said object when the grapple is rotated relatively tothe object, and means for attaching a drag line to the grapple adjacentsaid pivot.

PHILIP DE ANGUERA.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 829,903 Williams et al Aug. 28,1906 1,382,144 Taylor June 21, 1921 1,732,976 Mathews Oct. 22, 19292,196,117 Lange Apr. 2, 1940 2,415,898 Meadows Feb. 18, 1947

